Whenever we liked a church, we would expand to Sunday school attendance; and we did so here. We hadn't considered joining the church because of our bad ending experience with Rev. N's church. We were happy just being regular-attendees. At the Presbyterian church I was careful not to take on any leadership responsibilities. No song leader, teacher or governing official. This might have been because of my opposition to the Reformed doctrine of Calvin.
A few months into our church experience, someone asked our Sunday school teacher (in front of us) if we were members. He replied that we were almost members, that we had just not taken our vows yet. Now, outside of my wedding and United States Air Force vows, I was dead set against any other vows. I began to feel the pressure, so we left.
It's interesting to think about the fact that we (I) never faced a problem head-on and lovingly and honestly dealt with what made us feel uncomfortable. We always preferred to just move on.
Next up was an Evangelical Free church in nearby Kingsport. We had read some things about the EV Free churches, and we were particularly pleased that they were vow-less. We also enjoyed listening to Chuck Swindoll on the radio, and we knew that he was with the EV Free church out west before he joined up with Dallas Theological Seminary.
The local EV Free church was meeting in a storefront, and our first visit was pleasant. The people were warm and friendly, and the pastor also had interesting sermons. For some odd reason, unlike the Presbyterian church, I was more inclined to open up by doing several solos (singing) and teaching children's Sunday school. I still avoided church politics.
The church was quickly outgrowing its current location, and we learned that plans were already underway to purchase another building. A few of the members were well off financially. The new home would be a church whose members had outgrown their building and needed to go bigger. I helped with the physical move and continued to teach and sing at the new location.
About the only reason I can think of for us eventually leaving this church is that we became discouraged by leadership decisions and the pastor's role in them. At some point in time we became aware of the concept of house church. This is usually a group of non-denominational believers who meet in each other's homes. They share a meal, and the "service" is generally an open forum format.
We found a website online that identified a local house church organization. Lois called and spoke to a man whose name was on the website, but he gave very little information about house church. He didn't feel it proper that he should speak to the woman of the house, and I wasn't at home. That particular response was so odd to us that we never called back.
While we were attending the EV Free church, we were also having a Bible study in the home of some friends who had also left Rev. N's church and were now attending the same church. We also became good friends with a fellow that Lois had met walking our dogs in the park. J-n was a pleasant man, a few years younger than me, who was quite interested in spiritual matters. We invited him to the home study, and he was eager to attend. A professor and his family (four children) were also meeting with us. They had also left Rev. N's church.
J-n shared that he had been meeting with a house church for a few years, but that the numbers had dwindled down to just one family. He asked if he could invite them to meet with us in the Bible study, to which we agreed. On our first meeting we found them to be a very nice family --- husband, wife and six children. They started coming regularly, and we soon learned that the father was the same man Lois had spoken to on the phone.
After some time meeting with us, they invited another family from Wise, VA, about an hour's drive from here. That couple had two little girls and were very nice as well. Realizing that our numbers had swelled, we began to seriously consider having our own house church.
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